Teaser Tuesday

I'm feeling glum today, so to boost my spirits, I've decided to post a short teaser from Mystic Taxi. I'm going through the manuscript page by page, polishing and tightening and fixing those "what was I thinking?" blunders I missed the first time around. So my rough draft is gradually becoming a second draft. I'm really enjoying this part of the process because I get to revisit my characters from their very first breath on the page.

From my completed steampunk urban fantasy novel, Mystic Taxi:

"Hey, would you look at that?" Henry studied the apparition dressed in baggy pants and a torn jacket. It didn't appear to have a shirt on underneath, but it was too far away to reveal much. "Did you set a trap on that side?"

Vernon made a loud swallow. "No."

"I'm taking an empty trap over there to catch it," Henry said.

Vernon grabbed his arm. "Don't. Leave it alone. I think we have enough."

Henry smiled. So his nephew hadn't lost his fear of ghosts. "Well, what luck. It's headed right this way."

Vernon directed his tube lamp at the specter coming closer, its fluid movements cutting a swath through the fog. It didn't walk, it floated. And it was finally near enough for Henry to make out more details.

The male ghost appeared to have died in his late forties or early fifties. It was hard to tell what color his hair was since the body was transparent. It looked as though made of glass because he could see right through it. Its naked chest appeared to be splattered with dark paint.

Vernon picked up the box of filled traps. "I have a bad feeling about that one. We should let it go."

Henry grabbed an empty trap from one of the graves and held it out to the ghost. "Here, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty."

"Don't tease it like that."

"Why not?" Henry chuckled. "It's not a person, it's a thing. It's not alive, Vernon. You said so yourself not fifteen minutes ago." He squinted at the ghostly form as it approached. It gripped something in one of its see-through hands. "What's it holding? It looks like an axe."